Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Cornerstone Planning Group LLC

Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 32.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 772 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the first quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.8% during the first quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,603 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 306,541 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,404,000 after purchasing an additional 13,409 shares in the last quarter. Silphium Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 20.2% during the first quarter. Silphium Asset Management Ltd now owns 21,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,394,000 after purchasing an additional 3,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TradeWell Securities LLC. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $254,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.82.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,943 shares of company stock valued at $31,223,348. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $182.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.